The Age of the Universe and the Milky Way Research Paper

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The age of the universe

A good way of estimating the age of the universe is dating the oldest objects in the Milky Way Galaxy. Being that the age of the universe varies directly with the Hubble constant, the cosmological constant and the average density of the universe, the direct estimate of the age of the universe can be used to define cosmological models. The metal-poor stars found within the spherical halo of the Milky Way are some of the oldest objects in the universe. As we speak, there are three main methods used to date the stars. These are nucleochronology, main sequence turn-off gases and white dwarf cooling curves. This paper seeks to outline the age of the universe, the technologies related to this field, and the astronomical importance.

NASA used their Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy probe in 2012 to estimate the age of the universe as 13.772 billion years. This had a margin error of 59 million years. The following year, Planck measured it at 13.82 billion years. The globular clusters point to an age of 11 billion years, which is close enough to the above-mentioned estimates. The uncertainties have been significantly reduced by NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. Scientists later used this Hubble constant together with WMAP measurements to make independent calculations of the force of dark energy (Redd para 14).

Importance of the Age of Universe to Astronomy

Andrea Kunder, speaking to Space.com, said globular clusters are important in the reconstruction of the history of the galaxy, just like fossils are important in the reconstruction of the history of the earth. The Milky Way Galaxy comprises about 150 globular clusters which help in tracing the galactic halo (Redd para 10).

Globular clusters are dense collections of stars.

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The oldest of them has stars as old as 11 to 18 billion years old. The evident gap springs from the inaccurate determination of the distances to the clusters, which subsequently affects the brightness and mass values. If for instance the cluster is at a farther distance than what the scientists measure, the stars in the real sense would be brighter, more massive and younger (Redd para 9).

Humans, through scientific discovery have also discovered that eight other planets do orbit a star only halfway through its lifetime. One of these planets contains methane and water. And thus, scientists were able to shoot a robot to the planet that is 140 million miles away from the earth, and even drill a hole by itself (Kerner para 7).

Astronomers were able to photograph the teeny-tiny silver through space of time, some 13 billion years ago. Humans have also walked on the moon and collected rock samples from it, and tested gravitational forces. They even managed to take a picture of the earth from the moon, which inspired man to conserve the only planet in the universe known to support life (Kerner para 8).

All these discoveries were made possible by inspiration of the humans on what they were studying. It would be very miserable if these people could not put their efforts on what they loved and counted as meaningful to them. Amazing too is the fact that such vast knowledge of the universe can be contained in the tiny thing that the human brain is (Kerner para 9).

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Works Cited

Furness, Dyllan. “Astronomers Make Record Time in Recent Exoplanet Discovery.” Digital Trends, Digital Trends, 22 June 2018, www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/exoplanet-discovery-record-time/.

International Scientific Group. “3 Greatest Unanswered Questions About Space.” ISGs Blog, 2 May 2017, www.international-scientific.com/news/3-greatest-unanswered-questions-about-space.

Kerner, Hannah Rae. “What\'s the Point? The Real Reason Scientists Study Space (Op-Ed).” Space.com, Space.com, 8 Sept. 2015, www.space.com/30492-what-is-the-point-of-studying-space.html.

Redd, Nola Taylor. “How Old Is the Universe?” Space.com, Space.com, 2 Nov. 2017, www.space.com/24054-how-old-is-the-universe.html.

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